A retiree who once owned a quaint Queens diner was charged with a DUI after his wife was killed in a golf cart crash at their dream retirement spot in Florida late last month — while he was behind the wheel.
Angelo Theodosiou, 64, and his wife Christina Theodosiou, 58, were cruising through Nocatee, an unincorporated coastal community in Florida, on Nov. 30, when tragedy struck.
Christina Theodosiou fell from the golf cart and smacked her head against the pavement around 10:45 p.m. that night. She was transported to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to her injuries the following day, according to an arrest report obtained by Law & Crime.
Investigators observed that Angelo Theodosiou’s “eyes were bloodshot and watery and pupils displayed a reddened sclera.” Responding officers could also smell “an odor of alcoholic beverage” on him “from approximately three feet away in an open area,” according to the report.
At the scene, a distraught Angelo Theodosiou refused to complete a standard field sobriety test. He also failed to submit to a breathalyzer test, according to the report.
Officials noted in the report that he was “repeatedly asked what was happening and why he was arrested” the following day.
Angelo Theodosiou’s lawyer, L. Lee Lockett, said that the widower is “heartbroken” and maintains his innocence that he wasn’t impaired the night of the accident.
“He’s distraught. He’s depressed as can be,” Lockett told the St. John’s Citizen.
Angelo Theodosiou was charged with driving under the influence and refusing to submit to police testing. He made bond and was released from jail the day after his arrest, according to Law and Crime.
Residents in the cozy retirement hotspot told the outlet that they figured a recently opened greenway path would be bound to cause an accident sooner or later, since it’s created more congestion. Some said they’d seen some recent near-miss collisions between golf carts and e-bikes.
Angelo Theodosiou previously owned the Jackson House Restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens, according to a 2018 article written by students at the School of the New York Times.
He and his brother ran the restaurant, which retained its original name after they purchased the property in the 1990s. Under their leadership, Angelo Theodosiou told the students that they aimed to treat every customer like “family.”
“It might sound corny, but it’s really true,” he said.
It’s unclear when he retired and made the move to the Sunshine State.
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